«February 2015 Volume 5 Issue 1 ISSN: 2146-7463 JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL STUDIES IN THE WORLD February 2015, ...»

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For instance, Al-Zaidien et al. (2010) investigated the level of ICT use for educational purposes by teachers in Jordanian rural secondary schools. The results of the study indicated that, teachers had a low level of ICT use for educational purpose, they held positive attitudes toward the use of ICT, and a significant positive correlation between teachers’ level of ICT use and their attitudes towards ICT was found. The results also suggested that ICTs use for educational purposes should be attributed more prominence than it currently receives. The result of this study may be attributed to the fact that K-12 EFL teachers’ attitudes toward ICT play a key role in their adoption and actual use of ICT tools in the classroom (Afshari, Bakar, Luan, 2009) and that a positive ICT attitude is one of the main factors that has a direct positive impact on the innovative employment of ICT by the teacher (Drent & Meelissen, 2008).

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The results of the study were in line with those of recent research into the barriers to the integration of ICT into education including teachers’ lack of ICT competence (Al-Oteawi, 2002; Empirica, 2006), lack of technical support (Lewis, 2003), lack of time (Beggs, 2000; Al-Alwani, 2005; Schoepp, 2005), lack of effective ICT training (Schoepp, 2005) and inadequate institutional support (Chen, 2008). However, this study did not provide evidence in support of other important barriers repeatedly reported in literature including negative attitudes towards ICT (Schoepp, 2005; Empirica, 2006) and lack of teacher confidence (Dawes, 2001).

As to suggestions for better ICT integration into language education, the results of this study exhibited that provision of government support, technical support, adequate ICT training, and making effective ICT planning were five main ways to maximizing ICT infusion into language education. In some schools located in rural areas, internet services and computing equipment may be still lacking. At this point, government support should be supplied to renew the infrastructure of telecommunication in those places and to buy computing equipment for those schools. Sicilia (2005) states that “technical barriers impede the smooth delivery of the lesson or the natural flow of the classroom activity” (p.43). In this vein, Lewis (2003) stresses that teachers can overcome the barriers preventing them from employing ICT with good technical support. Cuban, Kirkpatrick, and Peck (2001) indicates that technical staff should be employed in schools to maintain computers and easy accessibility to high speed Internet access.

K-12 EFL teachers need in-service training programs to ensure that they keep abreast with current technologies. These programmes should adequately provide teachers with skills necessary to infuse technology in their classes. Previous literatures (Cuban, Kirkpatrick, & Peck, 2001; Vaughan, 2002, Schoep, 2004) show that providing access to ICT is not sufficient; teachers need training in methods for incorporating ICT into their classroom. Necessary in-service training programs can be provided for K-12 EFL teachers by using other methods such as workshops, seminars, and conferences. These in-service training programs can be more effective if they are planned and designed according to the K-12 teachers’ subject area needs and based on “teaching with ICT” rather than “basic ICT applications”. In this respect, the most prominent component of effectively incorporating ICT into curriculum is building a thorough technology plan (Rogers, 2005).

CONCLUDING REMARKS, LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The results of this study indicated that K-12 EFL teachers had fair competence in deploying most of the ICT tools. Results also showed that teachers’ attitudes were positive toward integration of technology into language instruction. Moreover, it was found in the study that lack of ICT competency, lack of technical support, lack of time, lack of effective ICT training and inadequate institutional support were the main barriers preventing teachers from integrating new technologies into language instruction. Lastly, it was revealed in the study that provision of government support, technical support, adequate ICT training, and making effective ICT planning were five main ways to catalyzing ICT incorporation into language education.

Over the last two decades, there have been prominent changes in the classroom such as computer access and direct broadband Internet access in the classroom. However, very few number of K-12 teachers are currently involved in and enthusiastic about incorporating computing technology into instruction. Unfortunately, most teachers are still undecided to employ computing technology in the classroom (e.g., Cuban, 2001). At this juncture, then, for effective ICT infusion into K-12 schools, Turkey should design or adopt its own national policies, technology plans, and ICT standards for all stakeholders in K-12 schools. Existing policies, plans, and standards related to this issue should be updated, developed, and spread. It is crucial that ICT resources (hardware, software, and fast Internet access) be supplied in every school. It can be suggested that at least one computer with Internet access and LCD projector be provided in every classroom. Besides the supply of resources, K-12 schools and teachers need technical backup to employ them. To realize this aim, some new divisions in schools (instructional technology centers, school technical support centers, etc.) may be organized to provide teachers with the necessary technical support.

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WJEIS’s Note: This article was presented at World Conference on Educational and Instructional Studies WCEIS, 06- 08 November, 2014, Antalya-Turkey and was selected for publication for Volume 5 Number 1 of WJEIS 2015 by WJEIS Scientific Committee.

Beggs, T.A. (2000, April 9-11, 2000). Influences and barriers to the adoption of instructional technology. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference, Murfreesboro, TN.

Empirica (2006): Benchmarking Access and Use of ICT in European Schools 2006. Final Report from Head Teacher and Classroom Teacher Surveys in 27 European Countries. Retrieved February 20 2011 from http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/i2010/ docs/studies/ final_report_3.pdf.

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European Commission (2005). Implementing the Education and Training 2010 Work Programme. Retrieved March 8 2011 from http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/news/ what/index_en.html.

Eurydice (2001). ICT@Europe.edu: Information and communication Technology in European Education

Isleem, M.B. (2003). Relationships of selected factors and the level of computer use for instructional purposes by technology education teachers in Ohio public schools: A statewide survey. Unpublished PhD thesis The Ohio State University.

Vaughan, W. (2002). Professional development and the adoption and implementation of new innovations: Do teacher concerns matter? International Electronic Journal For Leadership in Learning. 6(5), Retrieved February 28 2011 from http://www.ucalgary.ca/~iejll/ volume6/vaughan.html.

Yildirim, S. (2000). Effects of an educational computing course on preservice and inservice teachers: A discussion and analysis of attitudes and use. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 32(4), 479 – 495.

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Abstract In this paper we present the results of the project “Network of Staff and Teachers in Childcare Services”, which is being realized within the framework of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. The state of the art in staff development in Early Childhood Education and Care is related to the fragmented situation of systems and provisions across the EU: a common vision for childcare services is currently lacking in Europe, just as levels of investment differ greatly between Member States. Also, the picture in relation to childcare workforce varies significantly. Given the varied backgrounds of the EU Member States, there are no common recommendations/curricula, and practitioners as well as institutions at the national/regional level have little

possibilities of sharing them. For this reason, the project has established a network in ECEC staff development:

it contributes to overcome local visions, by creating links between institutions/practitioners/professionals, and by collecting learning resources in ECEC and making them available to a larger audience.

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